Celebrity
by Papersak
Summary: A blonde actress well-known for sneaking out of her mansion visits Japan for a movie, while Emi and Rage go out on a not-date and meet a strange foreign girl. Is there a link? I do believe so. Finally finished-ish. :3
1. Stranger

* * *

(Checking for first-sentence glitch... done. So if the first sentence repeats _again_, let it be known that I actually checked this time. :P

I'm starting to not care s'much about the length of my DDR fics as I am about getting them out here. I will make a series, darn it. xP But more importantly, there are only a few character fics. So yeah. I'd love it if you pointed out stupid typos and I'll fix 'em asap, but I'm too lazy to either find a beta reader or do it myself. xD  
I will go ahead and use honorifics seeing as they are in Japan, only because I love writing "Rage-sama." Even though Zukin is not in this story and said phrase will probably not appear here...

**OH**. Something important...  
I should mention that the timeline follows the games, sort of. Yuni was introduced during 4th mix, so this takes place around that time. The next chapter will sound silly if you didn't know that...)

* * *

She was a famous celebrity at the age of 14. Her wealthy family owned a chain of video stores, originating in America. She was a beautiful actress known for movies that were shown around the world.

And Uni Berth, more commonly known as "Yuni," was coming to Japan to film what would probably become another masterpiece.

Many residents were thrilled, but the entire project was kept quiet, and even if someone should find out, the sets were heavily guarded. A week or so after Yuni's arrival, talk of her began to subside. Few people had seen her.

However, the gossip began to pick up again once she snuck out of her large mansion on her day off. Many people regained hope of seeing her. This was precisely why she had so many guards: if no one got to her, she would definitely go out to see others. She would usually be caught and reluctantly follow the guards back to her second home.

No one expected her to go against them that day...

Rage and Emi were still quite awkward around each other. He wasn't sure why... normally, he'd be all over a girl but Emi seemed far too innocent for him sometimes. Emi was intimidated by the man, but she still wanted to get to know him and felt there was another side. The two of them were friends and nothing more.

For the time being, anyway.

It was an ordinary day for Emi. She was working on her tedious homework when there was a knock on her door. She had been expecting her new friend that day and got out of her chair... when a thought hit her.

_Oh no, my parents haven't met Rage-kun yet!_

Her pace quickened from her room upstairs. Truthfully, her parents were overprotective and due to intelligence, they expected her to be a successful engineer or programmer. As much as she wanted her family to get along with her friends, she was sure her mother and father wouldn't approve of him.

"Emi!" her father called. She stopped running and moaned fearfully to herself before proceeding to the door.

"Who's this?" he demanded. Rage had backed away from the door, wearing his standard white shirt with the orange tipped sleeves and his cargo pants. He had his arms crossed and glared angrily to the side. He was smart enough to wait for the older man to look away before getting annoyed.

"Um," Emi mumbled nervously, getting Rage's attention, "this is my new friend... his name is Ito Reiji. I met him in school and we were just gonna hang out today."

Her dad sighed. "Emi, perhaps this isn't-"

"It's not just me," Rage suddenly came in. He got one suspicious and one confused glare. "We're gonna meet up with some people. I mean, you don't expect it to be just the two of us, right?"

The parent looked back at his daughter. "Well?"

Rage nodded to her. "Y-yeah," Emi said, "there will be a bunch of people there."

"Just where are you going?"

"Um, the arcade... right Rage-san?" Emi mentally slapped herself.

"You're already calling him by his first name? How close are you two?"

"I-it's his nickname. He's used to it."

Her father sighed. "I trust you, Emi. Don't do anything reckless."

"I promise, dad." She giggled out of relief and skipped out the door. Rage smiled for a moment and led her away.

"I can't believe I did that," Emi mumbled as the two buddies wandered the busy city streets. Small shops surrounded them, although they ignored each one on their way to the arcade.

"Did what?" Rage asked indifferently.

"I lied to my father." She glared at him. "And you should be sorry, too!"

"You didn't lie," Rage told her, "and I didn't either. We're out in public... we can meet whatever strangers you want here. I just had a nicer way of putting it."

"Ugh," she muttered. Maybe he was a bad influence sometimes...

"Excuse me," a female voice said from behind them. They turned around to see what looked like a girl in a gray sweatshirt and casual jeans. Her hood was up and all they could see was her young face. She seemed to be suspicious, but considering Rage outsized her, they had nothing to be afraid of.

"See?" Rage told Emi. "Now you told the truth." He looked back at the new girl. "What do ya want?"

"I was wondering if you knew a fun place to go around here," she answered. "A restaurant or a theatre..."

"Tourist, eh?" Rage asked without waiting for an answer. "Hmm. I don't know any great places. I get takeout frequently from whoever I find first and I don't waste money on movies. I'd say wander till you find something."

"That's sort of rude," Emi whispered. She turned her head to the stranger. "You can come with us if you want. We're just going for a walk and going to an arcade."

"An arcade?" she inquired. "That sounds sort of childish for people your age, don't you think?"

"Not really," Emi replied. "It's a place for people to get together. It's open for all ages."

"Do I look like a kid to you?" Rage threatened. The girl seemed to be unaffected.

"I'd like to join you, if I may," she said to Emi. The blue-haired girl smiled.

"Okay!" She grabbed her new friend's wrist and began walking to the arcade, partially ignoring the man who originally came with her.

Rage groaned slightly. He actually wanted it to just be the two of them. Perhaps this would ease Emi's guilt for the small lie she told earlier...

* * *

(Chapter one. A little short, but the whole thing was like six pages and going, so I split it up. Review, pl0x. :3)


	2. Your name?

(Part-a two! Ahhh, I'm in trouble... but I'll explain toward the end. :P)

* * *

They headed to the Lightbeat arcade, a small independent place run by a family. Said family had the freedom to choose whatever games they wanted, providing it was in their budget. All the games had one thing in common...

"Aren't these all rhythm games?" the "tourist" asked. "I don't see any traditional games here."

"You're right," Emi confirmed. "There's nothing but Bemani games here. Rage-kun showed it to me when we first met."

"It's only popular by word of mouth," Rage said. "So if you wanna keep it alive, tell all your friends. Music games are hard to find around here, so I like to do these guys a favor every once in a while for bringing in all the new ones." He walked over to a vending machine to get a soda.

"So where do you want to start?" Emi asked cheerfully. "We can play these drums or this DJ game or-"

"Is that Dance Dance Revolution?"

Emi blinked and glanced toward the large games in the center of the room. "That one? Yes it is!"

"4th mix, to be specific," Rage said after drinking some pop. "They just came out with it a couple months ago."

"This is the first game Rage-kun and I played together," Emi said, trying to hide a blush. Her friend did the same by holding the can of pop over his face.

The girl smiled. "All right. I'd like to try it."

Emi hopped up onto the right side and the girl headed up to the left. Emi pulled out some yen coins and quickly stuck them in the machine. She pushed both the buttons, causing the girl to jump at the loud noise. Emi was picking options too quickly for her friend to tell what was going on, but she trusted her. The excited blue-haired girl chose 1,2,3,4, 007, hoping it would be the right song for a beginner. Emi played it on the Trick level.

The new girl took to the game quickly. She had the habit of staying in the center too much and made several quick jumps when she wanted to correct her mistakes, but she kept her rhythm well. Emi passed hers with ease, as she was used to Trick by then.

The imaginary crowd cheered as they cleared the song. Emi received an A while her friend got a C.

"That's pretty good for your first time," Emi reassured her.

"Pretty bad otherwise," Rage mumbled to himself.

She was exhausted, though. "I've played this game once or twice before," she told them. "I think it's harder than it looks."

"Not to be rude or anything," Rage started, "but don't you think you'd be less tired if you took that big sweatshirt off?"

She paused and looked around. "Do people often come here?" she asked with a hint of worry.

"I dunno," Rage told her, raising an eyebrow.

"Is something wrong?" Emi asked. She glanced back at the game and realized the timer had been going down. She started looking for the song Young Forever.

"N-no," she muttered. "Except... I'm not supposed to be here."

"What do ya mean?" Rage asked.

She didn't answer and did the second song with Emi. The end result was a D for her. She was tired, but she didn't think she'd have to remove her cover for a stupid game.

"Maybe you want my other song," she offered Rage.

"Fine, then," Rage shrugged. He set his half-empty can of pop on the side of the machine and turned the left side up to Maniac as Emi picked Higher.

The tourist watched with awe and a hint of envy. Rage was nearly flawless, considering it was only a six-footer. Emi stumbled a little but managed to hit most of the arrows. Emi earned a B and Rage got a shiny double A.

Emi panted and got off. "Don't worry about it," she told her. "You'll get better in no time. I've been playing for about half a year."

"_You have not_," Rage laughed. "You only play a few times a month, so you only have couple weeks worth of experience." He pretended to secretly talk to the new girl. "She's one of those smart kids in school."

Emi laughed. "But anyway... you can come with us whenever you want. But um... I never asked... what's your name?"

"My... name?" she asked.

"That thing people are supposed to call you," Rage confirmed sarcastically. He looked at her face and saw a few stray bangs of hair on her forehead. "Or we could just call you 'blondie.'"

She backed away with a bitter look.

"Oh I know," Emi began, "we haven't even introduced ourselves yet!"

The (apparently) blonde girl waited, hoping their introductions would buy her some time to think.

"That's Itoh Reiji, and I'm Toshiba Emi."

"Your... name is Toshiba?" She tilted her head. _Now I might really be in trouble..._

"Yep. But you can call me Emi. And you can call him Rage. Can you tell us your name now?"

She looked to the side. "You're eager to get to know me, aren't you?"

Emi nodded. Rage shrugged and continued to drink his soda.

The girl unzipped her sweatshirt. Underneath was a casual and partially oversized white t-shirt. As the jacket hung on her elbows, she flipped her long, blonde hair out of her shirt and let it fall on her back.

Rage watched her flip her hair around. "Wait a minute," he muttered. She faced him innocently. "You look strangely familiar."

He studied her large crystal blue eyes and the length of her foreign hair. Her face was so young as if she was only... fourteen.

"I've got it! You're that one chick! Yu-"

His mouth was covered as the small girl cut his speech.

"Yes, I'm Yuni," she whispered angrily. Her tone steadily rose. "But you can't go around shouting that kind of stuff. Why do you think I came here wearing that big jacket?"

Rage pulled her hand away. "All right, I get it. Get your hand off me."

"It makes sense now," Emi told her. "Don't worry. We won't tell anyone, Yuni-san."

"Thanks," Yuni said, smiling, "but that's not the problem. I can't be seen by a lot of people. Plus, as we speak, people are probably looking for me." She rolled her eyes.

"You don't seem concerned about it," Rage told her.

"You mean you snuck out?" Emi asked, shocked.

"You know it's all over the news, Emi," Rage stated. "She's well known for running away from her mansion for an afternoon or so. Nice reputation you have there." He grinned and tipped his can to her as if proposing a toast.

Yuni grumbled. "Well, it isn't my fault. I mean, what's the point of making all this money if I never get to use it in my free time? Hmph." She folded her arms.

"I'll take it," Rage offered.

She glared at him, then at Emi. "Is he always this annoying...?"

Emi muttered something nervously and shrugged. Yuni rolled her eyes. "My parents didn't want me walking around the streets too much because they figured I'd do something stupid and have it reported on the news. It's almost ironic." She laughed a little. "They have a team full of guards they always send out to look for me." Her smile faded.

"It sounds like you aren't close to your family, Yuni-san," Emi said sympathetically.

She shook her head. "My dad is the head of a video store and my mom spends her time using his money. And sometimes mine." She shrugged. "That's the price of being rich, I guess."

"Quit your crying," Rage ordered. "I'd trade lives with you any day."

Yuni studied him for a moment. His old shirt and attitude implied that his own life wasn't any better for different reasons. "I'm sorry," she forcefully apologized.

Emi didn't know what to say. Her life wasn't anything like either of theirs. "Uhm," she muttered shyly, getting their attention. "I just wanted to say that... as long as you're here... if we see each other again, you're welcome to come back here."

Yuni smiled. "I'll keep that in mind," she told her. "For now... let's not focus on our personal lives. _I'm_ going to find something I can beat Rage at." She swished her hair behind her right shoulder.

"Don't bother," Rage said, "I mean, you _could_ probably beat me at any other game, but only because I don't play any game outside of DDR."

"Sounds like you're backing down from a challenge to me," she said, winking.

Rage fumed. "All right, _fine!_ Pick anything!" He followed her around the arcade until she found Beatmania, so they put their money in and began.

Emi skipped over happily to watch. Neither of the two were doing very well, although Rage was slightly better until he started growling at the game. Emi laughed at both of them. Perhaps her role in life was keeping people together...

During the last song, Emi heard the door open. A tall man with black hair entered calmly, though very suspicious. She stared at him until he looked her way, and then the girl timidly walked over to him.

"Hello, sir," she greeted. "This is the Lightbeat Arcade."

The man blinked. "Good afternoon," he said. Emi felt relieved; he seemed like a polite and maybe even attractive guy.

"I'm actually looking for someone," he continued, trailing off.

She opened her mouth to say "who," but froze.

_Th-that has to be one of Yuni-chan's bodyguards! _

Before she came back to her senses, the newcomer was already walking to the Beatmania machine in the back. "Wait, don't!" she exclaimed nervously.

He ignored her and watched the small lines scroll down the screen. He waited for the song to end and then tapped Yuni on the shoulder.

She turned around and her eyes widened. "Hi-i... Akira..."

"Who are you?" Rage demanded.

"I'm one of her bodyguards," Akira replied. He frowned. "I'm sorry, Yuni, but I was instructed to bring you back as soon as I found you."

Yuni stepped away from the machine. "All right. It's better than being caught by those other guys." She put her sweatshirt back on, tucking her hair in again, as if nothing had happened.

"That's it?" Emi asked. "You're just gonna leave like that?"

Yuni stopped and thought about her answer. Then she looked back. "I don't have much of a choice. Akira happens to be one of the only guards I know that won't pull me away by force." She turned resumed walking out the door. "It was nice to get to know you, though," she said with a hint of regret.

"Do you think..." Emi muttered, but didn't finish her sentence. Of course she wouldn't see her again. She slumped a little. Rage said nothing as the movie star and the strange man walked out the door. He walked up to Emi.

"You okay?" he asked awkwardly.

"Yeah," Emi replied in a sigh. "I don't know. Just when I started thinking about spending time together, she leaves."

"People come and go," Rage mumbled, not knowing if it helped or hurt. "And you know... maybe she'll at least remember you in the future. You leave a bigger impression on people than you think." He messed with her hat playfully.

Emi smiled back at him. "Thanks, Rage-kun."

* * *

(What I mean to say is... it's not supposed to stop here. But I have yet to write anything for the next chapter. oo But I must finish this eventually... I want everyone to tie together in my fics some day.

If you're very observant, you'd notice that this takes place before Coincidence. Which needs some slight rewriting, imo. :P Point being, you have not seen the last of Yuni yet. Or Akira. :3)


	3. Future

(This chapter was written some month(s) ago, but I didn't like it. It's still rather short. But it's a conclusion, nonetheless. :P

After X came out, I guess Yuni's last name really is "Verse." Soyeah. I may or may not correct that, but just so you know~  
Also, there's apparently an arcade called the "Extreme Arcade," but seeing as X appears to take place in America, I'm still using Lightbeat because I can. ;P  
I think an A is near impossible or very hard to get on 4th mix, but I'll have to recheck that...

Other than that, here's the ending. ^^)

* * *

As the filming for the movie was finishing up a few months later, Yuni received an e-mail from her family.

"Uni,

Congratulations on your movie work. I'm proud to have such a successful daughter at a young age. You're welcome to return home when you wish.

-Dad"

It was formal, but that's how he was used to talking to clients. She leaned back in her computer chair. It squeaked softly.

"Yuni," a male voice greeted, as a familiar man entered the room.

She turned her head to him. "Oh hi, Akira," she said with a teasing smile. "How goes the target practice?"

Akira smiled. "Well, I don't use my weapon much and I've forgotten a little." He stepped behind her, and glanced at what she was doing. "What's that?"

The blonde girl stared blankly into the computer screen. "My parents asked me to go back."

Akira's eyebrows rose. "You seem let down about that," he stated with subtle concern.

Yuni didn't say anything at first. "I started to like it here. That's all."

"Do you want to go back?" he said with a wise tone.

"I don't know," she groaned.

Akira pondered over what to tell her. "Well, you're fluent enough in Japanese to stay here, you know." He began to walk out of her room. "The decision is yours." He paused at her doorway to say something, but decided against it. She didn't notice his hesitation.

_You're leaving it up to me? _She smiled. _You're supposed to make this easy, Akira._

_

* * *

  
_

Another Saturday was another day at the Lightbeat arcade. Emi and Rage were playing on the DDR machine. After finishing their last song, they learned they had an audience of two people.

"May we play after you?" a girl asked.

Rage winced. "I don't like that voice," he mumbled. The not-couple on the machine turned around to find a blonde girl dressed in a black blouse with a plaid orange skirt. It appeared to be a uniform. Her tall, suit-wearing bodyguard stood behind her.

"What gives?" Rage asked. "I thought you were stuck in your mansion."

"And where did you get that uniform?" Emi asked. "Is it a costume?"

Yuni grinned proudly. "I arranged to attend a private school in Japan for a while. Akira here is going to be my main guardian until I go back."

"When are you going back?" Rage asked.

"I don't know, maybe never" she told him with a wink, catching onto his words. "Do you want me to go back?"

"Yes," he joked.

Yuni smiled evilly. "All the more reason to stay here, then." She laughed and Emi giggled. The blonde girl took Emi's spot on the machine.

Rage walked up to the taller man. "Is she always like this?"

Akira sighed with a smile. "Perhaps." He took Rage's place on the other pad.

"Have you even played before?" Rage asked him, raising an eyebrow.

"Once or twice," he replied coolly with a grin on his lips. He tapped the down arrow four times, then chose Boom Boom Dollar.

_Are you ready?_

"Ah, he might be just as good as you, Rage-kun," Emi commented.

_Let's see your energy!_

Yuni was still on Basic mode, though she played better than before. Akira, on the other hand, played flawlessly, at least as far as his spectators could tell.

"I can take him," Rage muttered with his arms crossed.

At least, now that they were staying a while, he would aim to beat him one day. Regardless of their skills, no one knew what the future held for the group; they only knew that they would continue to have one.

* * *

(Cheese ahoy~

Well, my intention wasn't to make a mind-blowingly awesome fic, but rather to explain how Yuni pops up in my DDR timeline. I hope you enjoyed it. ^^)


End file.
